Career Bloom

Your source for authentic and practical career advice

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Over last 25 years, I have experienced multiple R&D roles in small startups and large multinationals, across multiple geographies (China, US, India) and domains (payments, e-learning, edtech). I consider myself a mix of leader & strategist, entrepreneur & org builder, product creator & problem solver, and now, researcher & systems thinker.

  • Managing Expectations

    Here is the background on this series, and here is the previous post on this series (Managing Work).

    In this post, we are going to try answering the question: How does a manager as important as him (and holding as many resources) manage expectations from other senior managers and executives without over-committing his team or himself?

    If you try to look for writings on the topic of managing stakeholders, you will find very tactical things (“Managing Stakeholders“, “Project Management Success“), some useful tips (“6 steps to success“) and some philosophy (“Managing Key Stakeholders“). In any organization, there are a lot of internal stakeholders (“a person or group that has an investment, share, or interest in something” – matrix organization‘), there will be much more communication-related expectations, organizational cultures that are very results focused may want you to keep improving your efficiency and keep delivering more, managers (or organizations or culture) who focus on long-term growth and vision may pose stringent requirements for people growth, and so on. Dictionary.com) for any given work. For example, in a typical software product development company, a manager in R&D group typically has these stakeholders: his/her manager, managers in peer disciplines (dev, test, operations, etc), product manager(s), heads of engineering, marketing and support organizations. Typically, stakeholders exert enough influence directly or indirectly on your work to make a significant difference to the outcome (positively as well as negatively) and hence it is important to manage their expectations.

    There are three aspects of expectations from these stakeholders that Ravi needs to keep in mind:

  • Managing Work

    Here is the background on this series, and here is the previous post on this series (Managing 1-1s).

    In this post, we are going to try answering the question: While Ravi is the smartest guy and the leader in the team, he is also the bottleneck. How can he manage his work (delegation or empowerment for example?) so that he still has time for himself and his family?

    For a manager, managing work is one of the most important activities that determine the results that the team achieves. It is also one of the easiest, and best, ways of measuring the performance of the manager and that of the team, as is clear from the way most performance reviews are conducted. Due to these reasons, work management tends to be topmost on the mind of a manager, and consumes most of his/her time. Our goal in this post is to explore some of the ways to make this an efficient activity and save time without sacrificing value that the manager provides by getting involved.

    Some of the reasons why a manager has to get involved in day-to-day activities so extensively are as follows: (more…)

  • Managing 1-1s

    Here is the background on this series, and here is the previous post on this series (Managing Performance). In this post, we are going to try answering the question: What is the most efficient way for someone to manage their 1-1s when one has many direct reports (in my friend’s case, 9).

    Effective 1-1s is an important tool a good manager has (my earlier post), here are some other resources I found useful: How to have great 1-1s and couple of podcasts from Mark and Mike (part-1 and part-2).

    Based on my experience with numerous 1-1s for over 10 years in India, US and China, and after working with many great managers (and not so great ones), I have come to believe in the power of effective 1-1s in building a good team and a good manager. However, effective 1-1s take significant investment of time, most comfortable 1-1s need at least 1 hour of face-to-face time and ½ hour of preparation and wrap-up time. This is the bare minimum; to be effective in providing feedback to your reports (which is one of the most important reasons of doing 1-1s), you need to spend time in collecting feedback, fitting it in the large scheme of career development for the individual and then provide the feedback. To do all this for 9-10 people every week is an extremely hard thing to do.

    Here are several efficiencies that I have found useful to apply towards 1-1s:

    1. Amortizing Preparation Time: (more…)

  • Managing Performance

    See my previous post for background on this series of posts. The question we are attempting to answer is: How does someone (in this case, my friend Ravi who has 9 direct reports) set performance objectives for teams and individuals so that he does not have to spend too much time directing day-to-day activities?

    There are many aspects of managing performance. you can find some of my previous posts here. Of course, Employee Performance Management is a vast area, so is performance measurement, for example see this great introduction (a US govt. office document but useful for everyone) or this article in HR World (“16 ways to measure employee performance”).

    Time spent in directing and monitoring day-to-day activities of one’s reports serves many purposes (providing technical guidance, mentoring new hires, tracking performance issues/potential, etc). For this discussion, we just consider the time that needs to be spent because this provides the basis for yearly/six-monthly/quarterly performance reviews. Even though organizations have different ways of doing performance reviews, one of the most common input in this process is manager’s feedback about the employee’s work. To give effective comments during the review, the manager needs to be aware of the details of the work and should be able to provide concrete examples, so the logic goes. This means that managers do need to spend a lot of time with their reports in order to collect this data.

    (more…)

  • Management Challenges

    While talking to one of my friends (I will call him Ravi) who has 9 direct reports and 4 indirects (and who doesn’t have enough time to spend on each of his reports on non-technical topics), I realized that having more reports than you can handle is a serious but common problem, especially in places like India where there is scarcity of good leads and managers. I am scheduled to talk to Ravi to discuss some ideas about how to manage his reports in a way that they do not curse him 2 years later (when they realize it!) for not spending enough time with them now. And this has set me thinking about how I have managed this problems and others around me (who I admire as effective managers) have done so. I am also trying to read and learn from fellow bloggers on this topic.

    Here are some of the aspects of this challenge that I hope I can find answers to:

    1. Managing performance: How does Ravi set performance objectives for teams and individuals so that he does not have to spend too much time directing day-to-day activities? (more…)

  • Managing the boss for better career management

    I have had my fair share of good and not-so-good bosses, and everyone I know of has a boss story to tell! Whether you like it or not, ability to manage your relationship with your boss is critical skill for anyone serious in managing their careers. In Managing your boss, Julie Poland lists a number of things to keep in mind when managing this relationship. I especially like the one about ‘tending to the relationship’:

    Tend to the relationship. Your boss is more than her job description – she is a person. People tend to work best with people who are likable, and you can become more likable by managing your own emotions and seeking to find common ground with her. Talk about shared interests, and if you don’t think you have any, find out what the boss’s are and learn something about them. Build the boss’s trust in you by doing what you say you’re going to do, and by being straightforward with her.

    I call it ‘knowing your boss’, which is the best way to know how to build a good relationship with your boss. I have written on this topic on my other blog (see Managing your boss and Trust in manager-employee relationship) based on my experience in India and US, and I must say that relationship building is best done by knowing the person, in this case the boss. Especially in a place like India where we do not tend to be confrontational and direct, it can be hard to know your boss well (and I can tell from my experience as a boss that I would like to be understood!).

    What has been your experience in the matter?

  • Social Networking and leadership

    In the blog ‘Social Leadership‘, Lois Kelly has more sobering view of the role of social media in any career management, unlike my yesterday’s post. Here is how she starts:

    Some days I get so sick about talking and reading about social media. Here’s why: most of the fundamentals of  marketing and leadership are the same as they always have been.  The social tools are merely enablers.  You can be a social media wizard at using Twitter, YouTube, blogs, communities and the like and still be a marketing or management dud.

     She goes on to talk about how communication competencies are important, and other aspects of leadership development. A good read for everyone who wish to be leaders in their organizations.

  • Leveraging social network in career management

    I went through an interesting blog ‘The pros of social networking and career management‘, which talks about leveraging social networking for enhancing and managing your career well. The case study in the blog gives the advantage of using social networking (in this case, LinkedIn) to find a suitable job. Here is a sample of the approach in the case study:

    Person A diligently carved out time to spend networking online – typically in the early mornings and late afternoons so that time during business hours could be spent focusing on “live” meetings. All of these activities ensured that Person A’s name and profile appeared in the LinkedIn homepage network updates frequently, grew their network substantially, increased their visibility and credibility, and helped to solidify the professional brand that Person A had created.

    I do not necessarily agree to this approach to career management, though this is certainly one approach. Notice that the attempt to network socially in this case is squarely to enhance the ‘online reputation’ and ‘sellability’ rather than networking. Getting a good job is a by-product of networking, not the primary goal. And if it becomes primary goal, very soon you will be exposed as a scheming person, and an unreliable one. So if you want to use it, use it with care.

    On the other hand, using social networking techniques to cultivate new networks and friendships which are otherwise hard to maintain (friends you met in industry forums, long-lost classmates, ex-collegues), is a great tool for staying connected with the industry and with opportunities.

  • Knowing yourself

    This Wall Street Journal Article talks about knowing yourself via self-assessment tests before changing your career. This is important, because many assessment tests point to your profile in terms of your interests, personality, strengths, etc. There are a large number of such tests available online and offline, a quick google query brings up about 300K results. However, some of them are pretty expensive. Here are a some that the article recommends:

    1. Coach Compass Assessment : coachcompass.com
    2. CareerLink Inventory:(www.mpcfaculty.net/CL/cl.htm
    3. O*NET(online.onetcenter.org)
    4. Rutgers University (careerservices.rutgers.edu/OCAmain.html)

    As you will notice if you choose to go to these sites, some are very vague while others are specific to US environment.

    While going for these tests is useful, it is important to pick ones that fit your need, and that is a very hard thing to do. So the problem still remains: how do we know ourself to be able to change our career (or do well in the current one)? You can try reviewing some of my posts on my other blog for some ideas. What has worked for you?

  • Career Astrology or Career Management?

    Recently I came across ‘Career Astrology’ section of MonsterIndia, the leading job portal in India. Some site indeed! If you are willing to shell out Rs. 500-1000, it will tell you how your stars can predict good time for changing your job, or things which are likely to go wrong in your career.Here is the description of one such service from Monster:

    Career SWOT Analysis is an unique service that harnesses the power of Vedic Astrology to show you the path to success in your career or profession.

    The Report, written by a group of renowned Astrologers includes the following:

    1. Your personality and your attitude towards work (karma);
    2. Your strengths in detail and a strategy to utilize the same;
    3. Your areas of weaknesses and simple ways to surmount them;
    4. Opportunities in the next 12 months that you are most likely to encounter, with tips on how to make the best of them;
    5. Threats that you are currently facing and are most likely to face in the next 12 months and strategies to overcome them;
    6. Auspicious times during the next 12 months to make the big career move you have been waiting for;
    7. Counseling Tips and Vedic Remedies to help you achieve great success with limited effort.

    This is so ridiculous, hoping that stars (and astrologers) can predict a career move and recommend changes!

    However, then I set out to search for other, more sane, sources of career advice for working professionals in India, and I was equally surprised to see that I couldn’t find even a single source of traditional career advisors (counselors, coaches, ) which could help someone. No wonder people turn to astrology!

    This site is an attempt to create a place where Indian working professionals can discuss some of the career issues, share tips and advices around career growth. I am constantly on the lookout for good career guidance resources for India and I will try to post them here as I find them (with my opinions about them of course!). I will also share my own experience at managing my own career and those of others which may prove to be useful for at least some folks out there.

    Stay tuned!